


Who Is The Terror Who Trick-Or-Treats In The Night?

by Cerusee, LananiA3O



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 14:58:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11900139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerusee/pseuds/Cerusee, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LananiA3O/pseuds/LananiA3O
Summary: Bruce wants to make sure all his kids are as safe as they can be, always.Cass wants to go trick-or-treating without alerting NASA.





	1. Chapter 1

“ _Bruce_ ,” Cassandra said, squirming. " _No_.“

” _Yes_ ,“ Bruce told her in his best no-nonsense fatherly voice, the one that worked almost forty percent of the time on the various Robins. Well, when they were Robin. Once they graduated out of the role, it was somewhat less effective. Actually, in Jason’s case, it was directly counter-productive and had the tendency to make him do exactly the opposite of what Bruce was asking, out of sheer spite, something Bruce never quite remembered to take into account until it was too late.

And Cassandra had never been a Robin in the first place.

“No,” she said again, batting at the contents of Bruce’s hands. "Not stealthy!“

"That’s the whole point,” Bruce said, exasperated. "The reflective tape increases your visibility. You’re too hard to see in that costume.“

Cassandra wrinkled her nose at him. "Never minded _before_.”

“Being able to slip into the shadows unseen is a very good thing when you’re fighting criminals on rooftops and in alleyways. It’s unnecessarily dangerous when you’re walking on the streets at night, trick-or-treating dressed head to foot as a _black cat_ , of all things.”

Cass put the index fingers of both her hands on either side of her head and made a chittering noise. Bruce had the distinct impression he was being called out.

“Are you implying that I’m overdramatic?” he asked dryly. "If so, might I point out that you _also_ dress up like a bat. And you enjoy jumping out of the shadows and scaring people.“

"Only bad people. Besides, you…you started it,” Cass said, with a touch of smugness. Bruce made a mental note not to let Cass and Jason patrol together anymore; Jason was clearly a bad influence on her.

“What’s the hold-up?” Steph poked her head into the room. "Everybody else is ready to go.“

"Cassandra won’t let me put reflective tape onto her _all-black costume_ ,” Bruce said, holding the tape up.

“Sheesh, Cass, just let him put it on,” Steph said, rolling her eyes.

“Thank you,” Bruce said, slightly surprised by the unexpected show of support.

“You can rip it off as soon as we get into the car.”

“I take it back. Go away.” No more Cassandra-and-Jason patrols _and_ no more Cassandra-and-Stephanie patrols.

“Think about it.” Steph winked at Cass and ducked back out of the room.

Bruce turned back to Cass, who had a speculative look on her face. "Don’t you _dare_.“

”‘Course not.“ Cass blinked innocently at him.

Bruce sighed heavily, remembering the good old days when Cassandra had been his least difficult child.


	2. Chapter 2

Bruce swallowed hard as he approached the kitchen. He could hear them talk. Alfred, in his usual calm and dignified demeanor, speaking only occasionally in soft murmurs of acknowledgment, encouragement and curiosity, and Jason, loud, sonorous and deeper than he had sounded when Bruce had lost him, yet with the same spark of unbridled energy. It was a rare thing to hear Jason so happy these days and Bruce hated himself for having to spoil the mood. Still this had to be done. With one last, deep breath, Bruce entered the room.

The smile fell from Jason’s face almost instantly.

“Oh great. I know that look. What did I do this time?”

“Jason–”

“If it’s about that explosion at the East Docks, that was all Steph,” Jason interrupted. “I told her pushing crates of unknown explosives into water was a bad idea.”

“Jason–”

“And that sword mugger with the broken skull is on Damian,” Jason added. “Kid sometimes underestimates his strength, weird as that sounds. The thing with the gala is on Tim. He thought it would make a good diversion.”

‘The thing with the gala’ had been a nightmare from start to finish and Bruce bristled as the memories came back to haunt him. He pushed them back down together with his growing frustration.

“It has nothing to do with the job.”

That made Jason’s eyebrows rise. It had been a long time since they had talked about anything but work. For a moment, he looked confused as a kitten in front of a mirror. Then, realization dawned on his face.

“Oh. That thing…” Jason retrieved a cigarette from his jacket, lit it with practiced ease and started taking long drags that ended with puffs of smoke being exhaled into Bruce’s general direction. “Believe it or not, Dick asked me for a cig.” Jason smirked. “Yeah, that’s right. Your precious golden boy was stressed out enough to bum a cigarette from me. Seemed to like it, too.”

That was a lie. Bruce knew. He had been watching. Dick had coughed and complained throughout the entire smoke.

“It’s about Cassandra.”

“Cassie?” Jason seemed genuinely confused. “What did she do to you?”

Bruce pondered that question for a minute. Did he really want to tell Jason about this? He would never let him live that down. Was it really worth his dignity?

“Miss Cain refused to put reflective stripes on her black cat Halloween costume despite Master Bruce’s fervent requests,” Alfred finally explained. Bruce shot him a look of sheer horror. He had been betrayed. Alfred merely sipped on his tea. “I believe her stubborn refusal has made Master Bruce question the effect her joint patrol with you has had on her life choices.”

Jason’s smirk grew and with it Bruce’s discomfort. He wanted to say ‘don’t you dare’, but his lips were frozen, his tongue was a sponge. Eventually, Jason got up, slow and smug and almost… suggestive, before crossing the distance between them and exhaling another puff of smoke from his almost finished cigarette right into Bruce’s face. There was a slight tang of cinnamon to it.

“I’m honored, Bruce.” Jason grinned. “I really am. You know, I think I’m gonna join Cass on patrol tonight. Maybe teach her some card scams, help her deal out some karmic punishment. Might even let her have a cig or two. And I think I still have some nice Sake in one of my safe-houses.”

Bruce watched, his face turned to stone, as Jason stubbed the cigarette out on the batsymbol on Bruce’s chest and retreated into the cave. He took a few seconds to shoot Alfred a disapproving glare - betrayed by his own butler! - before following his second son to try and remedy the situation.

When he got down into cave, Jason was gone.

And the batmobile was covered in reflective tape.

**Author's Note:**

> For @mikkeneko, who was reminiscing and probably didn't have this in mind.


End file.
